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2018 Holiday Plans


TheAuthority

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Where you going? What's the plan?

2017 was a terrible travel year for the Authority family. After going around the world in 2015 and all over Argentina in 2016, last year we only managed two short hiking trips in New Mexico. Work just took over I'm afraid, but, that is not happening again in 2018!.

We just got back from a week in San Francisco and Sonoma County and in May we are going to the Azores for the first time. I also want to get something on the calendar for September, so I'm looking for some inspiration VT'ers! Let us know where you're heading and maybe we'll show up for a beer :D

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think I only got 1 new country in last year ( Moldova  .. 2 if you count Transnistria  but it isn't a recognised country so I'm not counting it  )  ..

Work commitments and the fact I went on a  road trip (well train tbf) with my lad around Europe (no new countries)   kinda meant I didn't get my annual big trip in with my mates .

I'm thinking about going to Pakistan this year , hearing some good things about the place ( as well as some bad !!)  and I'd also quite like to go to Turkmenistan so I'll see how that all pans out

only need 5 or 6 countries to complete Europe , so I really should make the effort this year and get that knocked off  .. I've proposed a lads twin country do to Macedonia and Kosovo for later in the year for one of my mates 50th  so that should take care of 2 of them :) 

 

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5 hours ago, villa4europe said:

going to cuba and LA in March, found a flight from brum to varadero for £200 and then flying home its worked out cheaper to spend some time in LA first, planning on using airbnb for accommodation which could be interesting

Great price for that flight to Cuba! I've used AirBnB a lot - it's a great service. Sounds like it's still considered a bit dodgy over there?

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my main concern over airbnb is them cancelling last minute, by the look of it there are a lot of "casas" to rent so touch wood it should be ok

£200 flight out, £100 to LA, £150 back home...seems crazy to me, then add in about £40 a night for the rental place in cuba (they're all of a certain "quality"...) LA a bit harder because i haven't got a clue on the location (koreatown winning) so say £60 a night

2 weeks for £770pp...hoping havana will also be relatively cheap when we get there and LA will be a blow out

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8 minutes ago, villa4europe said:

my main concern over airbnb is them cancelling last minute, by the look of it there are a lot of "casas" to rent so touch wood it should be ok

£200 flight out, £100 to LA, £150 back home...seems crazy to me, then add in about £40 a night for the rental place in cuba (they're all of a certain "quality"...) LA a bit harder because i haven't got a clue on the location (koreatown winning) so say £60 a night

2 weeks for £770pp...hoping havana will also be relatively cheap when we get there and LA will be a blow out

Yeah people have different cancellation policies. You can chose places with less strict policies if there's a possibility you may have to cancel.

What are you interested in doing in LA? That can inform where you decide to stay. The beaches are beautiful - one time we visited and stayed in Pacific Palisades so we could be near Malibu and go hiking. But Korea Town, SilverLake and Little Tokyo are all great options if you want to be closer to the action.

I'm happy to PM you the last place I stayed in Silver Lake through AirBnB - The couple who owned the place were very nice - Aussie lad who writes movie music.

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yeah if you could please mate i'll have a look

not 100% sure to be honest, couldnt get a direct flight home and thought it would be better to go via LA than say atlanta or fort lauderdale, didnt put a great deal of thought in to it!

on my list will be santa monica pier, maybe venice beach, hollywood sign (not sure if i can bothered to get close) basketball game, rodeo drive, sunset boulevard, chinese theatre and walk of fame, not sure about the observatory, anywhere else you recommend?

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56 minutes ago, villa4europe said:

yeah if you could please mate i'll have a look

not 100% sure to be honest, couldnt get a direct flight home and thought it would be better to go via LA than say atlanta or fort lauderdale, didnt put a great deal of thought in to it!

on my list will be santa monica pier, maybe venice beach, hollywood sign (not sure if i can bothered to get close) basketball game, rodeo drive, sunset boulevard, chinese theatre and walk of fame, not sure about the observatory, anywhere else you recommend?

PM sent :-)

All those sound great and would be plenty to do. I would highly recommend the Griffith Park hike up to the observatory. You can see all of LA from up there. 

https://www.laparks.org/griffithpark

Comedy clubs in LA are great too so you could check one or two of those out. Nightclubs are meant to be cool if you're into that sort of thing (I'm too old these days lol.) 

North of Malibu is Zuma beach which is worth going to just for the drive there IMO. (Think the opening of American Gigolo.) Finally there is the Getty Villa - just check the opening hours because they can be a little funky. http://www.getty.edu/visit/villa/

Not sure what you're thoughts are but there is zero public transport. I would recommend renting a car for your trips out to the beaches and take uber/lyft/taxi's to get around when you're closer to downtown and near where you're staying. Make sure where you stay has parking. 

Traffic in LA is unbearable and you will inevitably get caught in it. You just have to suck it up sadly. Just try and not be driving at peak times - i.e. between 6am and 11am. And 11:30am - 5am ;-)

 

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Ahhh I was going to start this thread but forgot! :)

2017 was a shit year for me holiday wise.. no new countries... no countries at all! :(

This year... too early to say but the seeds have been planted for a lads trip away to Asia assuming everything falls into place...

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1 hour ago, Xela said:

Ahhh I was going to start this thread but forgot! :)

2017 was a shit year for me holiday wise.. no new countries... no countries at all! :(

This year... too early to say but the seeds have been planted for a lads trip away to Asia assuming everything falls into place...

Which part of Asia?

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21 hours ago, villa4europe said:

yeah if you could please mate i'll have a look

not 100% sure to be honest, couldnt get a direct flight home and thought it would be better to go via LA than say atlanta or fort lauderdale, didnt put a great deal of thought in to it!

on my list will be santa monica pier, maybe venice beach, hollywood sign (not sure if i can bothered to get close) basketball game, rodeo drive, sunset boulevard, chinese theatre and walk of fame, not sure about the observatory, anywhere else you recommend?

I stayed in Downtown LA and was really glad I did, as I reckon I would bypassed had I stayed in one of the more touristy areas.

There's some great bars, restaurants, architecture and more gritty general feel.  You're going to need a car or ubers to get around the place anyway as it's pretty vast.

Stayed at this place and it's one of the best places I've stayed: http://laac.com/hotel/ which is near to one of the main stations on LA's limited underground.

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6 hours ago, Seat68 said:

I believe I am going to Toronto for a gig in the autumn and whilst there going to see Niagara Falls. Other than that a couple of stints touring the UK in my motorhome.

if you are driving then stop off at Niagara on the lake ( it's a slight detour but not much out the way ) 

quaint little place worth a few hours of your time  ....

 

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yeah when i went they were having some sort of fete on, it was still busy with a few tourists but its a very pretty little town which was nicer than niagara 

if you've got time id also recommend the thousand islands and maybe travelling up as far as kingston

i really enjoyed toronto, real buzz around the place and tons going on, i think 3 different food festivals, beer festival, pan am games, batman being filmed, live sports, everywhere i went something was happening 

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23 hours ago, TheAuthority said:

Which part of Asia?

Probably start in Bangkok. Few days there then the world is our lobster

We always meet in the same hotel bar every time we're in Bangkok. We all make our own way there and the first time we see each other is for the first beer. Bit corny but its brilliant and gets the holiday off to a great start. 

I'd do Hong Kong again but at the same time would like to see Shanghai. Still in the early stages of discussion though 

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22 hours ago, tonyh29 said:

The bit where the girls do things his girlfriend would never do ... like have sex for money 

And where the girls show me their winkies! 

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On 1/15/2018 at 11:06, tonyh29 said:

think I only got 1 new country in last year ( Moldova  .. 2 if you count Transnistria  but it isn't a recognised country so I'm not counting it  )  ..

 

Heard good things about Moldova. Any good, worth visiting? 

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